Nifty ends August series above 7950; BHEL tops buy list

Moneycontrol Bureau

03:30pm Market Closing

Equity benchmarks ended at new closing high on Thursday. The Sensex rose 77.96 points to 26638.11 led by capital goods, FMCG, oil & gas and private banks.

The Nifty closed above the 7950 on the expiry day for August derivative contracts, up 18.30 points at 7954.35.

The BSE Midcap index underperformed benchmarks, falling 0.3 percent. About 1385 shares have advanced, 1546 shares declined, and 116 shares are unchanged.

BHEL topped the buying list, up 4 percent followed by ITC, L&T, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Wipro, M&M, Dr Reddy's Labs and GAIL with 1-2 percent.

03:05pm Interview

The government notified the liberalised foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for the railway infrastructure in sectors such as dedicated freight corridors and high-speed train projects, allowing 100 percent FDI through automatic route in the sector.

LV Raju, MD of Kernex Microsystems believes FDI in rail and defence will encourage an investment of Rs 50,000 crore in the coming 2-3 years.

02:40pm GVK Power in demand

GVK Power (Goindwal Sahib), a subsidiary of GVK Power and Infrastructure, has got permission from the environment ministry to import coal from South Africa as a 'stop gap' arrangement in case the company fails to get coal from its captive mines in Tosikud North Sub-Block in Jharkhand, according to official sources. The stock gained 5 percent.

02:20pm Govt notifies new law empowering SEBI

The government has notified a new law empowering the capital market regulator to pass orders for attachment of properties, arrest of defaulters and to access call data records.

The Securities Laws Amendment Act, which was cleared by Parliament earlier this month and amends all legislations governing capital markets, would also facilitate setting up of a special Sebi court to fast-track the investigation and prosecution process, including by granting approval for search and seizure operations in suspected cases of frauds.

The Act, which has come into force through a gazette notification dated August 25, is part of the government and regulators' efforts to tighten the noose around fraudsters in the wake of several cases of illicit money-pooling activities including by ponzi operators in various parts of the country.

The new Act has as many as 57 clauses to amend various sections of the Sebi Act and two other related legislations, reports PTI.

02:00pm The 50-share NSE Nifty managed to hold the 7950 level in afternoon trade and is heading towards closing at new high on expiry day today. The index rose 19.20 points to 7955.25 while the Sensex gained 72.56 points at 26632.71.

Gautam Chhaochharia, Head of India Research at UBS Securities, who was among the first to set Nifty target of 8000 for 2014-end, said the 50-share index has the potential to overshoot the mark.

He sees a 15-16 percent earnings growth in the medium term (over the next 2 years).

Hero Motocorp, BPCL, ONGC and BHEL topped the buying list in Nifty 50, up 2-3 percent followed by IDFC, GAIL, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite and Dr Reddy's Labs with 1-1.8 percent.

However, the selling pressure continued in Infosys, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, TCS, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Hindalco Industries, which declined 0.5-1 percent.

Among midcaps, ESS DEE Aluminium shot up 17 percent followed by Balkrishna Industries, Linde India and GMDC with 5-6 percent whereas IOB, Prism Cement, PS IT Infra, Bhushan Steel and Havells India lost 4-5 percent.